We're All Ears: February 2018

This month for the We're All Ears design challenge over on the Earrings Everyday blog is all about chandeliers.  I love that Erin usually picks a prompt that can be taken so many different directions... and my mind certainly went in many of them all at once!!

I always love that first rush with a new challenge when I get to go digging through all my beads and stash looking for possibilities!  I grabbed anything that allowed for multiple dangles, Vintaj brass, vintage components, crystals, and more... and then got started playing.

My very first pair may be my favorite of the bunch!  I had a bundle of Lesley Watt's bronze clay charms sitting out to possibly use in another challenge, and I noticed the cool dagger shapes and a lightbulb went off in my brain.  I immediately went digging for these cool vintage glass pieces that I bought at a local bead show.  They aren't at all the type of thing that I gravitate toward, but I grabbed them on a whim.  I'm so glad that I did because they were just perfect wire wrapped with Lesley's gorgeous bronze.  I think the result is a nice mix of vintage and modern.

Next up, a pair with some vintage flair featuring fun brass connectors from Vintaj Natural Brass.  These are pretty straight forward but do feel like they could be part of a fancy light fixture... a nice (albeit black) crystal drop.

These next two are very much a variation on a theme and both use a cool floral connector from Vintaj.  I added my favorite tiny Czech glass flowers as dangles on both of them using different colors and paired each with Humblebeads discs to coordinate.  These may not be in the spirit of a traditional lighting chandelier, but they are a chandelier style of earring!

In my stash I had a few different drop connectors/earring components with room for multiple dangles.  With these being metal I thought they definitely fit the chandelier theme.  I added Swarovski Crystals to both pairs (and Swarovski pearls in Petrol to one of them) which also seems in keeping with the inspiration!

Maybe I shouldn't have spoken so soon about favorites up above because I'm pretty smitten with this last pair too!  I was just about to put my new acquisitions from the talented Kristi Bowman away when I realized that one of the pairs of charms would make a pretty funky entry into my chandelier collection.  These have a scalloped shape and sea urchin texture, so I thought what better to pair with them than freshwater pearls!

The post isn't up yet, but check out the Earrings Everyday blog HERE later today to see what everyone else was inspired to create!